


Remarkable and Noticeable are Two Entirely Different Things

by not-another-gem (gems_6515)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, I'm new at the whole writing thing please cut me some slack, Speed Dating, not sure where I am going with this, olicity undertones, oliticy, taking charge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:33:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gems_6515/pseuds/not-another-gem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity Smoak has a revelation while working in the lair one night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Revelations

Being remarkable and being noticeable were two entirely different things. Felicity Smoak had spent a larger chunk of her life striving for one and not the other. Being noticed, she had found out from a relatively young age, was usually not a good thing. 

 

Being noticed meant mean boys asking her if she was ever going to grow into her Bugs Bunny teeth. Or snarky girls laughing in the change room because she was 13 and still didn’t need a bra. Being noticed was having spit balls ending up in your hair, taunts of four eyes, and having everyone turn to stare at you when Mitchell Lions announces to the whole class in 5th grade that you have a just sat in paint and now have a large brown patch all over your arse. Being noticed for Felicity Smoak very rarely turned out for the better. 

 

Yet here she was, sitting at her after work job, wishing that she hadn’t succeeded quiet so well in becoming entirely unnoticeable. Most days she felt more like part of the furniture than she did an actual person when she was in ‘the lair’. She was pretty sure she had more in common with the battered leather couch in the corner than she did with any other animate object in the room. She was useful, indispensable at times, she was sure they would miss her if she wasn’t there, but at some point in the last nine months she had become furniture. 

 

Maybe she was just being overly sensitive. Perhaps she was just over analysing it all a little too much. She knew she tended to do that whenever Oliver Queen was involved. Felicity didn't think that she had had a conversation with Oliver that she hadn't played back in her head at least once looking for a missed meaning, or just to relive the moment.

 

Perhaps Oliver and Diggle didn't think of her as furniture. The real problem, Felicity just realised, was that she was starting to feel like furniture; like she was a minor character in the Oliver Queen show. Felicity Smoak suddenly had an epiphany; she was Martha Jones to Oliver’s drool worthy Dr Who, and she needed to get out. Oh God, she thought, that made Laurel Rose Tyler. Felicity couldn’t help but cover her face with her hand at that thought.

 

She really did need to get out. Not get out of the team – God no- she needed to get out of the house, get out on a date, get out into any kind of vaguely social activity that involved other people. She would happily get out to a Game of Thrones board game night (as long as she didn't have to play the Starks, you could never win playing the Starks). She didn’t want to be furniture, or Martha Jones, and more importantly she didn't want to feel like those things either. 

 

The internet had rarely let her down, and she was determined that it would not this time either. Felicity conducted a quick search for wine bars in her local area. The nearest one to her flat with a four star rating was called ‘Puzzles’, and it had a speed dating event on tomorrow night. Seeing this as an obvious sign from the Great God Google Felicity filled out the RSVP form and sent it in before she could think twice.

 

She knew she was going to regret this tomorrow. Hell she was already regretting it now, she had already planned a strenuous evening of drinking wine, and catching up on her TV shows. It was her only night off all week and she had potentially destroyed it all because she didn't want to be Martha Jones. 

 

Glancing behind her she could see Oliver and Diggle in the middle of a work out. In the last 15 minutes she had gone from feelings horribly disenfranchised, to having a revelation, to taking charge of her life (a little still counts)- and they were still hitting each other with sticks. Felicity checked through all of the programmes that she had running, making sure nothing needed her immediate attention. If she was going to subject herself to speed dating tomorrow night, she was going home now. She grabbed her tablet, water bottle and favourite pen putting them in her bag. 

 

‘I’m off now, I will see you Saturday unless something goes wrong, not that I think something is going to go wrong, I highly doubt anything will go wrong. I mean something might go wrong, knowing our luck something probably will- not that I want it to. I just mean that if you look at the statistics the probability of something happening seems extraordinarily high compared to most people. What I am trying to actually say is; goodbye.’

 

Diggle and Oliver had barely paused during Felicity’s long winded farewell. The two men were so used to her rambling that it often did not register with them. Oliver’s eyes flicked in her direction acknowledging the fact that she was leaving. 

 

‘See you Saturday’ Diggle called out to the blonde as she made her way to the stairs.

 

Felicity waved her hand in response- not saying anything on the chance it resulted in another rambling goodbye. She was going home, and she was going speed dating tomorrow. She bet Martha Jones never made herself go speed dating.


	2. Hesitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has second thoughts about the whole speed dating experience.

She had had every intention of going speed dating, but it was complicated. When she had arrived at work the next morning she had looked properly at the event she had signed up for. It was a speed dating event for girls looking for men over 35. That seemed a little old. She knew she needed to get out here, meet people, do the social thing- but over 35- she didn’t think so. She quickly hacked into the company’s flimsily system to remove any evidence that she had signed up to the event. Felicity wasn’t chickening out, she was….making a strategic retreat until an ideal course of action could be determined so that an optimal outcome could be attained. There were no chickens living here, except for the chicken risotto that she had brought into work today for her lunch, and that chicken was dead, and cooked in a delicious dry white wine over slow heat with fresh spinach and roasted pine nuts- so it totally didn’t count. Damn it, now she was hungry.

Felicity trawled through the other speed dating events that were being offered in the near future. There was one for girls looking for guys over 6ft, one for guys looking for girls over 6ft, one for guys looking for sporty girls, one for guys looking for ‘curvy’ girls, one for girls looking for a guy in a trade, and one for girls looking for a guy with a minimum of an undergraduate degree. Felicity didn’t want any of these things- she just wanted to meet a nice, normal, guy of average height, with average intelligence and an average income who didn’t happen to dress up in green leather with a bow and arrow to terrorise the cities white collar criminals at night. Was that too much to ask? Really?

Who was she kidding? She wanted a distraction. At the very best she was hoping to find someone who would reduce the number of times a day that Oliver would slip into her thoughts in any of his incantations. The problem was Oliver was always there. During the day she had to deal with working for his family’s company, at night she had to deal with Vigilante Oliver, and in her dreams…..she dealt with another kind of Oliver altogether.

Her every waking and sleeping hour was filled with someone that she was begrudgingly attracted to. It drove her nuts. She didn’t want to be infatuated with him! It would make her life so much easier if she could feel about Oliver the same way she did about Diggle. Another nice older brotherly like person, that she could appreciate is attractive in purely detached clinical sort of way, but who didn’t float her boat at all. But no. Oliver was the Jack O’Neill to her Samantha Carter, the Frodo to her Samwise, the Logan Cale to her Max, the ….well you get the picture. The problem was that Oliver didn’t look at her that was at all, so she was more like the stalker to his restraining order the way her thoughts were going right now.

Felicity turned back to the work that she was supposed to be getting done. She somehow ended up with the majority of the work for the IT department. She didn’t really mind, IT was her first love after all. It just added to her already crazy busy day- which wasn’t helped by her very un-work like musings and research. She turned back to the speed dating website one last time and couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Work that bad huh?’

Felicity almost fell out of her seat, managed to tip over her cup of coffee, and then slipped her elbow off the desk so that she ended up smacking herself in the stomach. While still scrambling to sit up properly Felicity looked up.

‘OLIVER! How long have you been standing here?’

Oliver Queen himself, as if summoned by her earlier thoughts, was casually leaning against her office door, arms crossed, dressed in a clean crisp suit, with an amused smile playing on his lips.

‘Long enough to see you glare at whatever is on that computer screen like it has done something to personally offend you. What are you working on?’ He asked as he made his way over to her computer to have a look at what was up on the computer screen.

Felicity panicked.  In that moment she forgot everything she knew about computers, and in a bid of desperation she lunged at the computer screen and turned the screen off.

‘Nothing! Nothing work related that you need to see. It’s personal. Nothing to do with you, or the company, or anything. It’s all mine, yep all about me.’ Her eyes widened at that moment as if realising what she had just to the person whose family owns the company. ‘Not that usually do personal things while at work, you know me it is usually all work all the time. I mean if I am not working with you here, I am working with you after work, not that that is work, because I love our after work activities.’

Felicity then turned bright red, bit her lip, and very calmly added, ‘that are purely platonic.’

By this time Oliver was standing next to her desk looking down at her still smiling that smile that makes Felicity’s insides melt just a little. He leaned forward grabbed some tissues and started to help mop up the coffee that had formed a small swimming pool next to her computer.

‘Felicity it is fine. I know how hard you work.’

Felicity smiled up at him gratefully, glad that he was going to let this drop.

‘So what brings you to QC this fine day?’

‘My mother asked me to sit in on a meeting with her this morning, she is still pushing for me to be more involved with the company, and I thought I would stop by and say hi while I am here.’

‘Oh that is nice of you, to go to the meeting with your mother, and to stop by. They are both nice things.’

There was an awkward pause for a moment, as Felicity stared into space. For once in her life Felicity Smoak was lost for words.

‘Felicity?’

She loved it when he said her name. She sighed a little dreamily, ‘Yes Oliver?’

‘You’re out of tissues and there is still a flood of coffee on your desk.’

‘Oh Crap! There is paper towel in the break room, I will go grab some. Thanks for helping to clean this up. I will be back in two seconds.’ Felicity jumped to her feet and left the room without a second thought. She determinedly walked to the break room to grab the paper towel.

Felicity returned to her office less than two minutes later with a mountain of paper towel at her disposal. Oliver was still standing diligently by her desk. He grabbed some of the paper towel out of her hand and between the two of them they quickly mopped up the coffee.

‘I will let you get back to your work, or not work.’ Oliver said as his eyes flicked briefly to her computer screen. ‘I will see you Saturday night, unless you have other plans?’ Oliver asked leadingly as he levelled Felicity with an odd look.

‘No, no other plans. Free as a bird.’

‘Okay. I will see you then.’

Oliver turned and walked out the door, as Felicity dumped the soaked tissues and paper towel in the bin. She then sagged down into her office chair. She couldn’t work out why Oliver thought she would have other plans on Saturday. She turned back to her computer and looked at the screen in horror. The monitor has been turned back on, and the speed dating website was being displayed in all of its glory. Felicity looked over at the tissue box on her desk. It was half full. That sneaky rat bastard. Oh God, that sneaky rat bastard that now knew she was thinking about going speed dating.

 

Well the only way this day could get worse would be if someone told her Game of Thrones was cancelled. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure where this is going. Of if it is even going anywhere but I thought I would add to my first chapter and see how it goes. Let me know what you think!
> 
> Also I don't have a beta, and although I try to find mistakes I often fail. Let me know if you find any!


	3. Sorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity finally goes speed dating. It's not so great.

 

Felicity had to admit she didn’t go speed dating that week, or the next, or even the week after that. It wasn’t because she was scared. There was a litany of perfectly respectable reasons (not excuses) why speed dating just wasn’t possible.

Aside from your standard evil guy of the week that seemed to happen with disturbing regularity, there was Malcolm Merlyn with his evil doomsday earthquake device, the earthquake that then happened, Tommy dying, then Oliver leaving, then she and Diggle dragging Oliver back to civilization; all things that don’t leave much time for speed dating. Then Barry came along and speed dating for a moment, seemed completely not necessary.  But here she was. A year later and her life was so very different, while at the same time, basically the same. She was still Martha Jones; and now she was Martha Jones watching the Doctor make goo goo eyes at Rose Tyler. It turns out she was wrong about which Lance sister was Rose, or maybe they are both Rose. Who is Rose doesn’t actually matter, all that matters is that she, Felicity Smoak is Martha Jones, and she didn’t want to be.

It wasn’t Oliver’s fault that she felt like this, or Sara’s, or anyone else’s but her own. Oliver Queen had pulled her life into his orbit, and now she was like a distant outer planet orbiting around Oliver’s sun, and she had let it happen.  The life and purpose that she has gained from being part of Team Arrow was amazing, and she would never willingly give that up; but sometimes it made her feel so alone. There is so much of her life that she can’t share with anyone anymore.

Despite all of these thoughts the universe had conspired against (or maybe for) her. An old friend of hers, Janey, had messaged her the night before. The message was to the point, and left no room for argument.

‘Flick. I am going speed dating tomorrow night. Refuse to go alone. Kerry can’t come with me. You are signing up and coming with, have emailed you the link. You are doing this for me and I will owe you big- super big…...’

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe she would rock up and meet the love of her life. Even if she didn’t meet someone, looking at the link Janey had sent her you got free flowing champagne and snacks in the ticket price. Felicity was pretty sure she could drink $45 worth of champagne to get her money’s worth if it didn’t work out with any of the guys. Even if she didn’t fall madly in love with the guys there, maybe she would make new friends.  This could be fine, it would be fine. It would be fine.

Felicity’s repeated her mantra of ‘it will be fine’ to herself the majority of the next day, as entered the bar with Janey, through marathon of 6 minute dates, right up to the end of the night where she grabbed Janey by the arm, dragged her out of the bar and to the closest churros place she could find, and drowned her sorrows in deep fried chocolaty covered goodness. That was so not fine. The entire experience was like a bad romcom with no happy ending.  When the best part of your night is going home, it is a sure sign that your evening was a flop.

 

Felicity had momentarily forgotten about the horrifying experience the next day when she finally made it to the lair. Her day had been hectic. For some reason half of the company’s executive decided today was the day they had an issue with Oliver, and Felicity was stuck running interference.

Felicity swept down the stairs as she entered the lair, yelled a quick hello to Dig and Oliver, threw her bag under the desk, and got to work. There were several searches she had left running yesterday that she wanted to check on. Within minutes Felicity was deeply engrossed in her work, not seeing or hearing anything going on around her.   

It was over an hour later that she finally heard Diggle calling her name in a tone that suggested he had been trying to get her attention for a while.

‘Oh sorry Dig. Did you want something?’

‘Dinner has arrived’, he replied as he handed her a take-out container full of pasta.

Felicity eagerly grabbed at the container, not realising how hungry she was until there was food in front of her. Diggle sat on the edge of her desk as he dug into his own dinner.

Felicity looked up and around the lair. Her forehead scrunched in confusion. ‘Where did Oliver go?’

‘Upstairs. He had to chat to Thea about some club business. So how was last night?’ he curiously asked.

Felicity had received the text message the night before while standing next to Dig. Her response to Janey’s text message was to mutter a few choice words. Dig’s mind had immediately jumped to the conclusion that something life threateningly bad had happened; so unfortunately she had to explain what the message was actually about.

‘I do not want to discuss the train wreck that was my evening.’

‘That bad, huh?’ questioned Diggle.

‘That bad, does not even begin to cover it. But really I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Okay, we don’t have to talk about it.’ He said stoically, ‘But if you ever need to talk, just know I’m right here.’

Felicity was silent for a moment. She thoughtfully chewed on a mouthful of pasta, before she started to speak, slowly at first, before her found herself in the middle of a full blown rant.

‘But seriously, 14 guys, just one of them should have been borderline normal. Right! Right! I really don’t think that I am asking for much. I just want to meet a nice, relatively normal, person. Someone that can hold a basic conversation, isn’t completely socially inept, that I find attractive. As soon as I mentioned that I went to MIT half of them started making sexist jokes about how I turn them on, or insinuating that I must be bad at my job because I am a woman. It was almost like they expected me to make myself seem stupid, or belittle what I do to make them feel better! Oh if they weren’t put off by the fact that I was smarter than them, there were the guys with no sense of how to interact with human beings. I am not the most socially capable person but compared to them I seem like….like….Oliver. There was the guy that asked me how tall I was, and how much I weigh. Then there was the next guy who had a list of questions that he rapidly asked and he would wince, or make a face when I said an answer he didn’t like.  The next guy after that talked about counting calories, working out the entire time, and how he discovered who he really was after getting into yoga!’

By this stage Diggle could not hide the grin on his face.  Felicity’s dinner had been tossed aside on the desk, as she had used her hands to animate her points. For someone who did not want to talk about it, Felicity certainly had a lot she needed to get off her chest.

‘Oh and those guys weren’t even the worst,’ Felicity continued’, ‘There was one guy who just sat there. He didn’t say anything unless I asked him a question, and then he gave me one word answers. I swear those were some of the longest minutes of my life. And then there was a guy who was the exact opposite; I asked him what he does for a living and he talked non-stop for the six minutes about how he is a photographer, but hates weddings.

To top the night off, you have a little card that you fill out with their names and put a yes or no tick next to them as you go, and then if you both tick yes the company sends you an email the next day with the other persons email address so you can contact them. One of the guys that evening someone managed to get all of the girls phone numbers and started inappropriately messaging them straight away. Finally, the ‘all you can drink’ champagne wasn’t just cheap, it was horrible, so I couldn’t even drink enough to get my money’s worth of the night.’

Felicity and Dig were both laughing by this point. Felicity the absurdness of last night, momentarily overcoming the frustration she had felt. Felicity suddenly stopped laughing, and looked down at her hand as she gave a sad smile.   

‘I’m sorry Dig. I didn’t mean to dump all that on you. I told myself I was going to just forget about last night and not let it worry me. It just……it feels like this place is my whole life lately, and usually I don’t mind that. I love that we are helping people, helping the city, but I can’t help but think that one day this will be gone. Us. Team Arrow, kicking butt and taking names.’ She looked up and gave Diggle a small smile as she said the last part.

‘But we can’t do this forever, maybe one day we will fall apart, be forced apart, or someone else will take up the mantle, but whatever it is we won’t still be here when we are 70.  And when this is all gone, when my days full anymore, I don’t want to be alone. I know what you’re about to say. That I will always have you guys, but you will have Lyla, and Oliver will have whatever Lance sister he finally ends up with, and it won’t be the same.’

Felicity’s eyes had welled up and a silent tear made its way down her cheek.  Felicity quickly wiped her cheeks with the palms of her hands, sniffed, tilted her head back and blinked several times to clear the threatening tears.

Diggle levelled her with a look that signalled the beginning of a pep talk. But before he could speak Felicity cut in, and gave him a blinding smile.

‘But that is all an issue for another day! We have work do! I have found some information that you and Oliver might want to go and check out.’

At that moment the door to the foundry slammed and Oliver nosily made his way down the stairs.

Dig glanced over at her raising his eyebrows with an expression that clearly said this conversation is not over.

‘Oliver, our girl says to suit up. We have some recon to do.’ Diggle said as he slid off Felicity’s table and made his way over to his own kit.   

The rest of the night was uneventful. Dig and Oliver made it safely back to the lair. The team packed up and made their way home. All before 3am.

 

Felicity came into the office the next morning, cursing herself for scheduling a 8am meeting for Oliver. It meant that she had to be in at work by 7.00 to make sure everything was set up and ready to go. She was clutching and extra-large coffee. Gulping down a large mouthful of coffee Felicity stepped out of the elevator while mumbling to herself that less than 3 hours of sleep was definitely not enough for any respectable human being to operate on.

It was then Felicity noticed a tall rectangular box on her desk topped with a badly tied bow. Walking over to it tentatively, her sleep deprived brain tried to figure out where it had possibly come from. It was when she reached her desk that she noticed the card taped to the side of the box. The envelope simply had her name written on it in Oliver’s hand writing.

Looking around the office Felicity couldn’t see any sign of Oliver. He must have dropped it off after they left the Foundry last night. Felicity tore open the card.

 

‘Felicity,

No matter ‘ _which Lance sister’_ I end up with, or what happens in Diggle’s and my life, you will never be alone.

Sorry- you can’t get rid of us that easily.

Oliver

P.S. I can’t stand cheap champagne either’

 

Felicity looked at the card. She couldn’t believe Oliver had been listening last night. He had heard her rant about speed dating. Oh God, he had heard her quip about the Lance sisters. She wished the floor would open her up and swallow her before Oliver arrived at the office. Curiosity getting the better of her she pulled the bow off the top of the box and peered inside. There were two bottles of Dom Perignon looking back at her.

Felicity laughed, and rolled her eyes. Trust Oliver to try and make her feel better with expensive booze. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. I'm not sure people are still reading this. I haven't updated this story in a very long time. I have no excuses. 
> 
> I hope you don't mind this chapter. It feels a little clunky in places, but I'm not sure how to fix it. 
> 
> Also, I have to admit that this is a *little* inspired by my own speed dating experience. All of the guys I describe in this chapter where at the speed dating event I went to. My friend and I left at the end, went and ate way to many churros, and then laughed at the horror. 
> 
> Happy reading.


	4. Dispair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Speed Dating was a fail. Maybe Tinder will work

 

So speed dating was an epic fail. Oliver had bought her sympathy alcohol to numb the pain of her crushing oppressive loneliness (not that he would phrase it like that, it was champagne to show how much both he and Diggle appreciated her), and Diggle was throwing her ‘are you okay’ and ‘I’m worried about you looks like clockwork every half an hour. It had been a long day. After starting her morning with the mortifying realisation that Oliver had heard her talking to Dig the evening before, the day had been back to back meetings, with one CEO related drama after another.  

 

Tonight was a rare Arrow free evening. It was fast approaching 10pm, and Oliver had long left the office to go on a date. Felicity still had a stack of reports to read through. The reports were meant for Oliver but she usually read through them first, highlighted the appropriate points, and wrote small translations to things she knew Oliver wouldn’t understand. She would then write up a brief page synopsis of the report that usually included a pros and cons table, with a few questions he should ask of the department. Felicity was ninety percent sure that Oliver never even opened the reports and just read her attached synopses. She knew that it technically wasn’t part of her job, but part of her just wanted to make life a little bit easier for him, and part of her didn’t trust that he wouldn’t accidentally drive the company into the ground if she didn’t.

 

Felicity sighed, and rubber her eyes underneath her glasses, before attempting to look at the words in front of her again. It wasn’t working. She kept losing her place.  The letters looked like they needed to book in to the beautician for a wax their edges were fuzzy. Felicity slammed the report shut. ‘That’s it,’ She thought, ‘I’m going home.’ The blonde started packing up her desk. Another downside to being Oliver’s EA, her desk was inspected and judged by everyone who came to meet Oliver. It meant that it had to look neat and organised at all times.  Felicity shoved the empty take away containers into the bin, then scooped up the loose papers on the desk, arranging them into a neat pile placing them into the ‘To Do’ tray with the report she had been trying to read.  Satisfied that her desk was neat enough Felicity grabbed her bag and her tablet walked up to the elevator and pushed the button. Looking back at her desk she saw the two bottles of Dom Perignon sitting in the corner looking back at her. Without thinking she walked back to the desk, she grabbed the bottles and shoved them into her bag, before walking back as the elevator doors opened.

 

Walking through her front door Felicity immediately kicked off her shoes and staggered into the kitchen. She had had dinner at work, but was craving something sweet. She dumped her bag on the floor next to the kitchen counter. Hearing it clink, Felicity paused for a moment before remembering the bottles of champagne. The blonde leant down and plucked both bottles from her bag. She opened the fridge and put one bottle in. Holding the fridge door open she looked at the second bottle. They were warm. She really shouldn’t. She put the second bottle in the fridge and closed the door. Sweet, she thought, there has got to be something sweet in this house. Opening and closing cupboard doors Felicity searched aimlessly for some candy, or chocolate, before opening the freezer with a vague hope that there was some ice-cream there that she had forgotten about.  No ice cream, but there was ice. Ice that could make expensive champagne cold; expensive champagne that wasn’t necessarily sweet, but would certainly hit the spot. Damn it! She was having champagne. Yanking the fridge door open Felicity grabbed one of the bottles out and popped the top off it. She went to grab a champagne glass, before remembering that her friend Cynthia had smashed her last two when they were celebrating her ‘promotion’ to Oliver’s EA several months earlier. Undeterred Felicity grabbed a coffee mug out of the cupboard, dropped a handful of ice into it, and then filled it up to the brim with Dom.  Felicity then took the mug and the bottle and flopped down on her couch.

 

Turning to her television she flipped through the numerous movies and television shows stored on her hard drive attached to the T.V, before selecting the first season of _Buffy_ and hitting play. Not matter how crappy her day had been she could always watch _Buffy_ and know that the people of Sunnydale had it worse.  I mean at least she had never burnt down her school gym, or had to shove her boyfriend into a hell dimension after he lost his soul. But then again Buffy had a boyfriend to shove into a hell dimension, so there were both pros and cons to Buffy’s situation.

So speed dating had been a bust. That wasn’t the only option available to her. She just had to expand her avenues. A couple of the other EA’s had been talking about Tinder lately. One of them had even found her current boyfriend on Tinder. Taking out her phone Felicity downloaded the app. It seemed fairly simple, swipe right if you are interested, swipe left if you aren’t, tap the picture for more information and photos. Felicity grabbed her mug to take another drink of champagne only to find it empty.  Topping her mug up, she began to swipe, taking several minutes to contemplate each person to, while continuing to drink the champagne. After topping up her mug several more times Felicity swiping decisions become much quicker, swiping left of right almost instantly. Nope, nope, oh hell no! nope, are you kidding me?!?! Oh hello- yes! Nope, nope, yes please, definitely.  Felicity pulled her shirt free from her skirt, and peeled her stockings off throwing them as hard as she could across the room, only for them flutter back down over the end of the couch.

 

Abandoning the mug, Felicity began to drink straight out of the bottle, no longer even noticing the warmth of liquid. The more Felicity drank the less she swiped left, and the more she said yes to the images that popped up. Becoming bored with the app, she dropped her phone onto the coffee table. The bottle of champagne was long since gone. Felicity laid down on the couch and sleepily watched the episode of _Buffy_ that was currently playing before nodding off to sleep.

 

‘Felicity……..Felicity.’

Felicity woke up with a start, snorting as she inhaled too quickly. Looking up with bleary eyes, Felicity saw Diggles blurry face looking over her. Felicity groaned and reached around blindly for her glasses, before finding them tangled in her hair. Carefully untangling her glasses from her hair she only managed to make her already messy ponytail more chaotic, before putting them on and glaring at Diggle.

 

‘What’s going on? Why are you in my house?’

‘I got in with the spare key you gave me. Oliver has a lead on the guy selling weapons to the gangs in the Glades. He’s gone to do some physical recon, and asked me to pick you up so that could you start some searches at the lair. Are you okay?’ Diggle asked has he looked at the very dishevelled Felicity, the empty bottle of champagne on the floor, and the stockings hanging over the couch.

 

‘Yeah, yep.’ Felicity replied as she tried to straighten herself up. Felicity could feel a very definite headache coming on. ‘Um…just give me 15 to shower and change and I will be right with you. I shouldn’t be any more than 15. Do you mind waiting?’

 

‘No, just don’t be too long. You know how antsy Oliver gets when you keep him waiting.’

 

‘Yeah sure, I’ll be real quick’ Felicity said as she stood up and staggered towards the shower, cursing her past self for drinking an entire bottle of champagne.

 

Diggle sat down on a nearby couch to wait. He was worried about Felicity lately, but he didn’t know what to do to help her. Felicity’s phone on the coffee table buzzed.  He looked at it, it was the third time it had made that noise since he arrived. Leaning over and he picked it up. If it was Oliver messaging her, he would text back for her so that the vigilante didn’t get bent out of shape. Oliver wasn’t exactly well known for his patience.  As he checked the phone Felicity made her way down the stairs, freshly showered, a bottle of water and two aspirin in her hand.  Felicity was in the process of downing the aspirin as Diggle looked up from her phone in confusion.

‘Felicity, what is Tinder, and why do you have 27 messages from it?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. Another chapter for this. Again not sure where it came from of where it is going. Feedback is appreciated.


	5. Heartache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today is the last day Felicity Smoak will break her own heart.

Never has Felicity Smoak, digital extraordinaire, been more disappointed in the internet. The internet was her realm. The place that never let her down. It was her Narnia. The internet was where she could avoid being noticeable, but excel at being spectacularly remarkable. But when it came to helping her get a life, a real physical life, with real physical human interaction and contact, it had failed this Felicity.

Felicity giggled to herself at her own joke, as she shuffled the vegetables around in her lunch container before took another mouthful of her salad that she was eating at her desk. It was 3pm, but it was her lunch break. She could look off into space for a while if she wanted to.

Tinder had been entertaining. Although the first time she used it not completely plastered on unaffordable champagne was not one of her finest moments. She had been swiping away happily, and after a while forgot that the people you said yes to may actually send you a message. So when the first guy sent her a message while she was swiping away, the blonde let out a completely ridiculous squeal and then accidentally threw her phone across the room. Not her finest moment. Thankfully that had happened when she was home alone. She could just imagine that happening in the lair, Oliver and Diggle rushing in to rescue her from her dating app; weapons drawn, their serious faces in place.

Felicity found Tinder awkward. She couldn’t get a good read on the people she struck a conversation up with. Most of them ended up asking her to come around for booty call. Not that Felicity was opposed to the odd one night stand, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She didn’t know what she wanted. No that was a lie; she did know what she wanted. She wanted Oliver. 

Felicity glanced over at his desk through the glass wall. She couldn’t help the soft smile that made its way onto her face as she watched Oliver. He was sitting here reading a report synopsis that she had written out for him for his meeting with Applied Sciences.  She could always tell when he was having trouble getting his head around a report. He would read it with a crease between his eyes, and a scowl on his face, as if he could intimidate the answers out of the report like he did with criminals at night.  Felicity sighed to herself as the smile slipped off her face. She couldn’t keep doing this to herself.  She was breaking her own heart every day.

She loved Oliver, she knew it. She was pretty sure he knew it to, and Dig, and most of Starling City. It was as obvious as if it had been tattooed on her forehead. It wasn’t Oliver‘s fault that he didn’t love her the way she so desperately wanted him to.  You can’t pick who you love. If she could have, she sure as hell would have not picked an emotionally stunted, vigilante with a guilt complex. She would have picked her best friend from college, or Gary from accounting that she went on a couple of dates with BO (before Oliver), who just wanted to settle down, get married, and have kids.

Getting over Oliver was never going to be her first preference. She would much prefer to be getting under him, regularly. But she knew that she needed to. Perhaps she was going about this all wrong. Before Oliver and his crusade had made their entrance into her life, she had friends, hobbies, boundaries.  But since she had signed on to Team Arrow, well let’s just say Oliver had come into her life like a wrecking ball. The flaw in her past logic was that getting over Oliver didn’t mean finding someone else to take his place- that was screwed up Twilight logic right there. Getting over Oliver meant putting herself first. Felicity knew it was easier said than done, but it needed to be done. To quote her favourite hangover movie; ‘waiting for Oliver, is like waiting on the rain in a drought. Useless and disappointing’.  

 

Looking at Oliver’s calendar for the rest of day she found it was surprisingly clear. Felicity made a snap decision and then packed up her belongings into her bag. Taking a deep steadying breath Felicity stood up from her work. She needed to do this, and she needed to do this now. She had been thinking about making a change for so long, but she never did, because it was easier to just pretend that it would all work out in the end; to pretend that the situation wasn’t so bad. But enough was enough. Today she needed to believe that she was both remarkable and noticeable.  She forced herself to take one step after another towards Oliver’s office, when all she wanted to do was turn around and sit at her desk.  Logically she knew that what she was about to do would hurt so very much now, but in the long run would hurt less than then years of heartache. As Felicity took the last few steps towards Oliver’s office she took a deep steadying breath. By this time Oliver had looked up from his report and noticed Felicity making her way towards his office.  Oliver cocked his head to one side, taking in Felicity’s shaky demeanour.

‘Oliver, can we talk?’

‘Of course.’ He replied.

Oliver indicated to the couch, but Felicity just shook her head and sat across from him at his desk. Felicity needed a solid object between them if she was going to get through this conversation. By this point Oliver was both thoroughly confused, and a bit concerned.

 ‘You know saying, ‘Can we talk’, makes it sound like your about to break up with me.’ He quipped, hoping to lighten the mood.

‘I guess I am… in a way.’ Felicity replied as she bit her lip nervously, still clutching her bag in front of her as if it could shield her from the conversation she was about to have.

‘Felicity…..’

‘No wait Oliver, I need to get this out now, or I am never going to. So can you please just sit, and listen, and then let me go home early for the evening. Please…..Please.’ Felicity looked at him imploringly.

‘Okay.’ Oliver replied worriedly.

‘I’m in love with you.’

Oliver opened his mouth to say something but Felicity quickly cut in.

‘No! Oliver! You said you would just let me speak.’ Oliver closed his mouth and looked at her sadly. ‘I’m in love with you. Not platonically either.  I know you don’t love me like that, and I don’t expect you to love me like that. I’m pretty sure you already knew that I loved you.’ Felicity said with a sad smile and shake of her head.

 ‘I don’t _want_ to love you anymore. I don’t want be in love with a person who I have to see every day, who exists in every facet of my life, and who is _never_ going to love me back.  So in a minute, I am going to leave for the day, and tomorrow is going to be the first day of many, where I am going to try really hard to not love you anymore.’ Tears had built up in Felicity’s eyes by this point but she refused to let them fall.

‘But to do that, to start to get over you, I need you to do something for me. I need you to let me have a life outside of you. I need to be your partner here and at the Foundry, but I can’t be your friend. I need to finish my day job at 5 and walk away from your company until the next day.  I need to work in the foundry only when I am needed, not whenever you want me to. I need to have a little bit of time every week when my day is not about you, because I can’t spend every day being in love with you anymore Oliver Queen. ‘

 

Felicity then stood up clutching her bag to her chest and walked out of Oliver’s office before he could say a word.  She walked up to the elevator just as the doors opened. Stepping into the elevator she continued to face the back wall away from Oliver, refusing to look back. Hitting the button for the parking garage the doors slid closed behind her as she finally let the tears fall. Today was the last day she would break her heart over Oliver Queen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is what I get for listening to Ed Sheeran while I write. I'm sorry if this is a little less funny, and a little more angsty than my usual m o. 
> 
> As per usual I would love to hear what you think.


	6. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity makes some headway with moving on.

Felicity had gone home and cried. She had cried, and cried and cried, until her eyes were red and puffy, and her breath came out in ragged gasps. She cried until she felt horribly sick, and was desperately thirsty.  Felicity gave herself that evening; this one evening, to mourn the end of what had never been. And that is exactly what she had done.

It wasn’t easy. Every day she walked into the office and saw Oliver and her heart clenched inside her chest. Every night when she heard his voice through her ear piece her stomach would swoop. But every week it got a little easier.

The week had been a particularly quiet week, but Felicity was looking forward to the end of their nightly activities that evening nonetheless. She was having breakfast with a few friends from the I.T department at QC before getting a manicure the next day. Since her talk with Oliver she had made the effort of meeting up with friends, and doing something just for herself at least once a week. Sometimes all she had time for was a quick phone call on her lunch break to her old MIT roommate, or drinking a large glass of wine when she got home for work; but it was surprising how often that was just enough. It was enough to remind herself that she was a person too.

Felicity smiled to herself as she put the final touches on some searches she had setup to run overnight. Dig and Oliver had returned to the lair not long ago and were busy packing up for the evening.  The sounds of the three of them in the lair were comforting and familiar. It was something that Felicity had quickly become accustomed to after signing on with the team. It seemed ironic to her that she now associated the sounds of a variety of weapons being assembled, and disassembled as homely and comforting.  Finishing her work for her evening, Felicity spun herself around on her chair to face the boys. She just sat there for a moment, head cocked to one side, visually checking them over, making sure they really had come home uninjured. Oliver as if feeling her gaze looked up and caught her eyes. Their eyes held for a moment. Oliver looked at her with questioning sadness. Not sure what the question in his gaze could be Felicity gave him a tight lipped smile, before shifting looking to Diggle.

‘I just wanted to thank you again for ticket to the conference next weekend Dig. I was completely heartbroken when I thought I wouldn’t be able to go.’ Felicity exclaimed dramatically. She saw Oliver wince a little at her choice of words, before quickly collecting himself.

‘Conference?’ Oliver asked in confusion.

Dig looked over at Felicity and raised his eyebrows. His expression clearly saying, you can explain.  Felicity sighed a little, and shifted her chair so that she was looking more directly at Oliver.

‘The Association of Information Technology is holding their annual conference in Starling next weekend. Their annual conference is _always_ amazing! I used to go every year when I was at MIT. The presenters are usually atrocious speakers, because, well I don’t normally like to promote stereotypes about people in IT, but come one….really. The topics and the research that is presented is always mind blowing.  Oh, and the conference dinner and drinks afterwards! Some of my best ideas have come from drunken coding conversations at that conference! Anyway, I totally didn’t realise that ticket sales were open, before it had sold out. I may have mentioned to Dig that I was a little annoyed I couldn’t go. It turns out Dig knows some of the guys who are doing the security for the event, and managed to get me a ticket. Free!’ Felicity had become increasingly animated as she had described the conference, until she was practically bouncing in her chair.

‘May have mentioned it once?’ Diggle said sceptically, ‘You mean that you bitterly complained about how you missed getting a ticket for a week!’

‘Okay, okay so maybe I mentioned more than once.’ Felicity added coyly while swinging on her chair. ‘But it was an annual rite of passage for my friends and me at MIT, and with it being in Starling this year, and a bunch of my old college friends are going…..I just really wanted to be able to go….and now I can, thanks to the gallantry of Mr John Diggle!’ Felicity giggled, Dig couldn’t help but grin while he shook his head at her.

Oliver looked at the interaction between the two of them, and couldn’t help but feel a little sad. The relaxed comradeship that he had thought he shared with Felicity was gone lately. He couldn’t help but envy their easy interaction.

‘I actually meant to let you know about it Oliver….’

Oliver’s head whipped up to look in Felicity’s direction. He began to think that perhaps this was the beginning of Felicity broaching the space that she had so carefully constructed between them over the last few weeks.

‘…going to the conference will mean that I can’t attend the Children’s Charity Gala with you next weekend. I can organise a replacement EA for the evening if you think you need someone, otherwise I will make sure that your speech, and schedule for the evening is taken for you and uploaded to your phone.’

Oliver’s vague hope their tenuous friendship being repaired was dashed. ‘I don’t think I need an EA for the evening, but I am happy to go with whatever is easiest for you. You deserve a whole weekend off,’ He added softly.

Felicity’s heart clenched. This wasn’t helpful; Oliver walking on eggshells around her, trying to be kind. It was the unintended consequence of her declaration to Oliver a few weeks ago. All of his interactions with her were as if he expected her to crumble, or break at any moment. Diggle had noticed the dynamic change between his two partners. The atmosphere in the lair was certainly more calculated. Although he was curious at what had happened, he left them be. If either of them needed to talk he would be a willing ear, but until then he was content to be a silent observer.

Felicity in turn was more stilted with Oliver. The blonde was more deliberate with her interactions, purposely building up small walls. She was polite to Oliver at the office, and professional at the lair, but she avoided the familiarity that had built up between them. They were partners, and they would always be friends, but for now she couldn’t be _friendly._ She needed space. But Oliver being kind… it made her remember what an amazing person he was, which in turn made her remember why she fell in love with him. So Oliver would be kind, and Felicity would respond in as professional way as she could muster. She knew it hurt Oliver, but she needed the distance, otherwise she was just hurting herself more.

‘If you think that a replacement EA is not necessary for the evening, then I will organise as much of your evening as I can in advance, so that you are not inconvenienced at the event. I can go over the details with you at the office on Monday. I don’t anticipate my weekend affecting your work schedule in any other way.’ Felicity responded in a business like matter.

Felicity then turned to Dig, ‘Anyway, I need to get out of here. I have a glass of red wine with my name on it at home waiting for me!’ Felicity grabbed her bag and headed for the stairs, looking back briefly she yelled, ‘Have a good weekend boys, I’ll see you Sunday night, ‘as she swept out of the door.

Oliver sighed and sunk into Felicity’s recently vacated seat. Diggle continued finished packing up his own equipment, and was about to call it a night when he heard Oliver sigh for the second time in less than a minute. That was his cue to ask what was wrong.

‘Something bothering you Oliver?’

‘Felicity.’ Oliver replied.

‘You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.’

‘Felicity…….she……told me that she’s in love with me.’

Diggle whistled and raised his eyebrows. ‘That girl has some balls,’ he responded, his voice dripping in admiration of their IT girl.

Oliver looked piercingly at Diggle, ‘You sound more surprised by the declaration, than the content.’

‘Oh come on man. Everyone with a pair of eyes could tell how that girl feels about you, everyone except you apparently. So she told you that she loved you. What next?’

‘She told me that she loves me, but that she is trying not to be. She asked me to let her fall out of love with me. I don’t get it Dig.’

‘What exactly about the whole conversation didn’t you get?’ Diggle asked with an exasperated sigh, as he dropped his bag and lent against the bench behind him.

‘How am I supposed to let her fall out of love with me? Ever since she told me, every time I’m nice to her she acts like I kicked a puppy. She only talks to me if it is about Arrow or QC business.’

Dig was often surprised at how oblivious Oliver could be to the people around him, when he was so hyper aware of his surroundings. ‘Oliver, every time you are nice to that girl. Every smile, every time you touch her shoulder, every compliment, every time you bring her lunch or coffee, it hurts her.  She is trying to get over you when most her life is about you in one way or another. This distance she is putting up between you, is so that she doesn’t hurt anymore.’

Oliver ran his hands over his face in frustration. ‘I don’t want to hurt her. That is the last thing I would ever want to do. But, Dig, I miss her. I miss my friend, and she is right there, but she isn’t.’

‘This isn’t about you man. This is about her, and her being happy. You want her to be happy; you have to let her do what she needs to. Felicity has a big heart. She just needs time and space. It might take a few weeks, a few months, or longer, but it won’t be like this forever.  You just need to give her the distance she needs for now. Eventually she will get over you, and then being friends, it won’t painful for her anymore. ‘

Dig lent down and grabbed his bag. ‘I’m gonna call it a night. You should go home and get some sleep to.’

Oliver glanced up at his friend and nodded. ‘Yeah, I’ll get going in a minute.’

Dig snorted in disbelief and made his way to the door. ‘Seriously, Go Home!’ He yelled over his shoulder as he walked out of the basement.

Oliver stayed seated at Felicity’s desk. There was so much of this space that was distinctly her from the Kermit the Frog mug with cold coffee in the bottom, to the brightly coloured sticky notes spotted around. He picked up Felicity’s favourite pen. It was bright purple with a feather sticking out of the top. Oliver twirled the feather in his hands.

Oliver should give her space. He should let her have her own life. He should let her fall out of love with him, so she could fall in love with someone else. He knew it was the right thing to do. Oliver just couldn't work out why the idea seemed so wrong. 


	7. Disappointment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver POV. Sorry for the lengthy delay with this chapter. I lacked inspiration and time for a little while......

Oliver struggled through the Children’s Charity Gala. He was used to having Felicity at these events, letting him know small personal facts about the people that he was chatting to, keeping him on time with his schedule, making sure he knew his speech, and generally just there with him. He wasn’t sure when Felicity being present in every corner of his life became normal. But now, when she wasn’t with him it was a glaring omission in his world. After experiencing the Gala without her, he knew he wasn’t dependant on her. Oliver knew that he could live his life without her being around, he just really really didn’t want to.

 

By the time Monday came around he was looking forward to seeing Felicity. He didn’t care if she wasn’t really talking to him at the moment, or if she needed space, or if she didn’t want him to show that he cared about her anymore. He just needed to see her.  Felicity made his life….better, Oliver didn’t know how else to describe it. She was his friend. Felicity and Diggle were his best friends.  So when he walked out of the elevator and into the reception area before his office, he not only expected to see Felicity sitting behind her desk, but was eagerly anticipating it. Except she wasn’t there. There was a young, slim, brunette sitting in Felicity’s chair.

 

Oliver generally prided himself on how well he could control his emotions. It was a skill that he learnt quick and fast on the island; one that had saved his life numerous time. But in that moment the confusion must have shown on his face as clear as day.

 

‘Mr Queen. My name is Trish Macintosh.’ The brunette said while smiling and walking towards him. Her arms full of folders, no doubt containing his schedule for the day and the reports that Felicity had pre-read for him last week.

 

‘What are you doing here Ms Macintosh?’ Oliver asked far more gruffly than he intended.

 

Trish looked confused, ‘Call me Trish, please.’ Trish responded flirtatiously, and then paused as if expecting Oliver to respond likewise. When he didn’t she added,   I’m your EA for the day Mr Queen.’

 

‘I gathered that much, but why do I need you as my EA for the day, Ms Macintosh. Where is Felicity?’

 

‘Oh, I thought she would have let you know’ Trish said, ‘You two always seem to know where the other is’, she muttered half under her breath.

 

Oliver caught the second half of the sentence, and the implication it held about his relationship with Felicity.

 

‘Ms Macintosh?’ Oliver asked tersely. This morning was not going the way he planned.

 

Trish wavered for a moment. Obviously re-evaluating the way Oliver, and the way in which she was interacting with him. Seemingly coming to a quick conclusion, she straightened herself and put on a highly professional tone of voice to reply, ‘She called in sick this morning Mr Queen. She asked me personally to take over being your EA for the day. I am completely prepped and up to date on your schedule for the day. Here are the meeting agendas, and reports that have been marked for you to view. I have prepared the Executive Meeting room for your morning meeting with the department heads. I have also arranged for a new coffee machine to be purchased and installed- I noticed this morning that the current one appears to be broken. Is there anything else you require?’

 

Oliver felt a little bad about his gruff attitude, but appreciated her change to a professional attitude. ‘No, nothing else at the moment. Thank you Ms Macintosh’, he continued as he took the folders from her and talked into his office. Oliver had never felt more frustrated by the glass wall that surrounded his office. He just wanted to slump into his chair and groan about the turn the day had taken. He didn’t have to pretend to be someone else when Felicity was around, now he had to convincingly be CEO Oliver all day, with no moments of respite. 

 

Oliver sat at his desk and placed the folders next to him. Flipping open the top one he couldn’t help but smile. Felicity’s  ‘cheat sheet’ was attached to the top of the report. He didn’t know how she did it; the work at the Foundry, all of her work here, and to be honest half of his QC work as well. He would have never been able to run QC without her.  Without her report synopses he would have certainly not been able to understand half of what was happening at QC. She truly was remarkable. No wonder she was sick. She had probably run herself into the ground juggling everything she did. He should give her more time off.

 

Oliver sat at his desk reading through his morning agenda, and Felicity’s notes on his meetings for the day. He should check on her. He didn’t want to impose, or be pushy. He wanted to give her space, but if she was sick maybe he could send Digg around with some soup or something for her. He didn’t want her to be home alone needing anything.

 

Oliver grabbed his desk phone, and called the number he knew off by heart. It rang several times before he heard her voice croak an answer.

 

‘Hello? Oliver?’

 

‘Felicity, how are you feeling? I just walked in and there was this other lady sitting at your desk…’

 

‘Trish.’

 

‘Yeah, Trish. She said you weren’t feeling well. Are you okay?’

 

‘I’m fine really Oliver. Just a little flu-y and run down after the weekend. I didn’t want to come into the office and give it to you; because The Arrow having a cold doesn’t really work does it. Can you just imagine, you standing there in the leather, aiming an arrow at the bad guy, and then sneezing your head off. It wouldn’t make for the most imposing figure. Not that you aren’t always imposing. You could impose the shit out of any one, anytime. But you sneezing mid bad guy capture, would decrease the imposingness of you. ‘ Felicity finished her ramble a little out of breath and wheezing.

 

‘I understand. You deserve a day off. I can send Digg round with some soup, or cold and flu medication? Do you need anything?’

 

‘No!’ Felicity half yelled. ‘I mean, no.’ She said more quietly. ‘I don’t want to get Digg sick either. I’m fine Oliver. I don’t need anything. I will be in tomorrow. It’s not that bad.’

 

Oliver thought he could hear a muffled voice in the background. ‘Is someone else there?’

 

‘A friend from MIT; they were just dropping off some supplies for me. Today make sure you tell the Head of HR that their new employee contact is not suitable, and needs further consultation with the staff representatives before they implement it at the meeting this morning. Oh and in your meeting with Oscar Parsons this afternoon, remind him that you are well aware that this is the _third_ time there has been a complaint about his conduct towards woman.’

 

‘I know Felicity. It is all here in the schedule you have written up for me.’

 

‘I know, I know. I just worry when I’m not there. You need to go to your morning meeting now Oliver, you don’t want to be late. Oh, and Oliver…thank you for checking up on me.'

 

‘Any time Felicity, any time.’

 

Oliver hung up the phone and looked at it for a moment. She seemed okay at the moment. He was glad she had a friend over, someone to look after her. Oliver grabbed the file he needed for the meeting about to start, and headed out of his office. He wouldn’t send Digg around at lunch time. He would go himself after work. She would need dinner then, and he wanted to make sure she was okay in person.

 

The day dragged on, and Felicity was in his thoughts continuously. Trish was very competent at her job, she just wasn’t Felicity. There was no smiley faces on post-it notes on his desk, or scrunched up faces pulled behind stuffy executive’s backs. Trish even brought him coffee; it just didn’t feel right. 

 

Oliver eagerly left the office and picked up a large bowl of pho for Felicity on the way to her place. He walked up the steps and rang the bell, looking forward to seeing Felicity for the first time in days. The door opened and for the second time today his expectations were shattered and he was met with someone who was definitely not Felicity.

 

‘Hello?’ the tall, muscular, brown haired man who opened Felicity’s door said.

 

‘You’re not Felicity,’ Oliver responded.

 

‘No, I’m definitely not.’ The man chuckled. ‘You are?’

 

‘Oliver, Oliver Queen,’ Oliver responded moving to shake the man’s hand,’… and you are?’

 

‘Oh you’re the boss.’ The man replied as he recognised the name, leaning forward and shaking Oliver’s hand, a little more firmly than necessary. ‘I’m Cory, and old friend of Flick’s from MIT.’

 

Cory turned around and called into the house behind him, ‘Flick your boss is here.’

 

‘Just a minute’ was the muffled response from the depths of the house.

 

Cory still stood in the doorway, barring Oliver from entering into house. Who the hell was this guy, Oliver thought, opening Felicity’s door, not letting him enter her house, calling her Flick.

 

Cory and Oliver stood on either side of the door eyeing each other. An awkward, uncomfortable silence fell over them as they waited for Felicity to come to the door.

 

Oliver spied movement behind Cory, and saw Felicity shuffling towards the door. A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, fluffy pink slippers on her feet, hair in a messy bun of her head, a bright red nose, and Oliver felt a weight lift off his shoulders. He was never certain she was safe and alright unless he could see it for himself.

 

Felicity came up and stood next to Cory. Cory leaned toward Felicity and draped his arm around her shoulders.

 

‘Oliver, what are you doing here?’ Felicity croaked out confused. ‘Is something wrong at the office, or…..the …..club?’

 

‘No, no, nothing is wrong. I just wanted to check up on you, see if you were feeling any better and drop off dinner for you.’

 

‘Oh, that is really sweet.’ Felicity replied.

 

Cory was still standing next to Felicity, listening and watching their interactions.

 

‘That is really thoughtful.’ Cory added. ‘I guess since you’re here, Flick can just let you know now that she can’t make it in tomorrow as well.’

 

Oliver stiffened as the other man spoke of Felicity’s behalf.

 

‘Cory! I don’t need another day off.’ She said to him, her voice breaking as she spoke. Felicity then turned to Oliver, ‘I will be fine to go in tomorrow,’ before starting to cough violently. 

 

‘You’re obviously not well Flick. You always push yourself too hard. Take an extra day off now and get better, or try and push through and you will end up being sick for longer. It’s a no brainer. Plus, I’m here to look after you now. Let me look after you.’

 

Felicity looked between Cory and Oliver obviously torn.

 

‘He’s right Felicity. Take an extra day. I promise I will make sure that QC is still standing when you get back,’ Oliver added in softly. He didn’t want to side with Cory, but it was obvious that Felicity needed the time off.

 

‘Okay, okay. It’s hard enough to say no to one of you, let alone both of you guys!’ Felicity exclaimed. ‘I will go and call let Trish know she will be your EA again tomorrow. Thank you for checking up on me Oliver.’ Felicity smiled at Oliver and affectionately patted Cory’s chest as she detangled herself from his arm to make her way back into the house. Oliver couldn’t help but glare at the scene.

 

Cory leaned forward, and grabbed the plastic bag with the dinner Oliver had intended on sharing with Felicity in it, taking it from him. ‘Thanks for the dinner. Felicity loves pho when she is sick.’

 

Oliver scowled at Cory. He knew he was Felicity’s friend, but there was something wrong with him, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

‘Nice meeting you Mr Queen,’ Cory said as he shut the door.

 

‘Likewise.’ Oliver mumbled back, as he stepped away from Felicity’s house. He needed to go and punch something. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. So I'm an pretty new at this all, so please go easy on me. I'm not sure whether to leave this as it is, or continue with Felicity at speed dating. I wasn't actually intending on writing anything, despite the fact that I have been obsessively reading Olicity fics lately, this just kind of came out. Please let me know what you think good, bad or otherwise.


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